OPINION: Guns, Republicans, Democrats, Women and Children

Who worries about guns? It’s a beautiful day in Bucks. Your kids are clamoring to go next door to play. Of course they can. And then a shot rings out. A toddler has gotten a gun and fired a fatal shot into his body! This horror shouldn’t ever be true, but it was. (http://patch.com/pennsylvania/newtown-pa/bucks-county-toddler-killed-accidental-shooting-report)

When it comes to neighborhood play, the question every parent has to ask is, “Are there guns in the home?” Gun incidents are only possible where guns live. The Harvard School of Public Health points to the hard facts: “Children aged 5-14 in the U.S., according to available statistics, are more than 13 times more likely than children in other high-income populous countries to be murdered with a gun, nearly 8 times more likely to die of gun-related suicide, and 10 times more likely to be the victim of an unintentional shooting.”

Women are also especially vulnerable: A comparison of six states with low rates of gun ownership (such as Hawaii and Massachusetts) and 15 states with high rates (such as Wyoming and Montana)—with roughly equal population numbers in each group of states—found that, between 2001 and 2007, 29 women in the ‘low-gun’ states were unintentionally killed with guns, 406 committed suicide with guns, and 780 were murdered with guns. In ‘high-gun’ states, the numbers were 205, 2,926, and 1,978, respectively. From 2005 to 2014, 463 women in Pennsylvania were murdered by their intimate partners, over half of them by guns.

In 2014 the Forever Republicans (individuals who keep getting elected despite their lame records) regarded it important to “protect” gun owners. State Senator McIllhinny (PA 10) and Representatives Quinn (143rd) and Petri (178th) thought it was quite okay, however, for local communities to face fiscal ruin if they deigned to keep gun ordinances on their books. All three Republican stalwarts voted to give the NRA “standing” to sue communities that forbid guns in their parks and on their streets.

In 2016 it’s time to vote for candidates pledged to safe communities and rational gun control. Take note: EVERY DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE is committed to stronger gun laws, including federal and local background checks and limits on assault type weaponry. Democratic Candidates Steve Kunkel (143rd) and Neale Dougherty (178th) care enough about the safety of our kids and communities to challenge the NRA-controlled Republicans in Pennsylvania. Steve Santarsiero (Candidate for Representative from the 8th) will go to Washington determined to get background checks and move legislation to protect families from threats by armed individuals who should never own a gun.

Rational voting counts at every level. Despite the big TV blasts about Toomey’s gun control legislation, his bill never passed. And in June/July of 2016 Senator Toomey voted AGAINST 4 bills and amendments, even one limiting gun purchases to individuals on the Terrorist Watch List. Yikes. Senate Candidate Katie McGinty will not be persuaded that gun regulation is unconstitutional, no matter how threatening the NRA gets here, or elsewhere. Candidate for President Hillary Clinton has made her position on gun laws courageously clear, even after a threat by the opposing candidate!

People who think that owning a gun is a civil right tend to forget that murdered women, children, church-goers, co-workers, teachers and students also have civil rights. Terrorists can get guns. Crooks and the righteous can have guns. Students in Texas have guns. Husbands have guns. Nut-cases have guns. In fact, Americans have 110 guns for every 100 Americans! The American Medical Association says it is adopting a policy calling gun violence in the U.S. "a public health crisis."

In this election year, voting Democrats, Independents and rational Republicans should have one important goal: elect representatives that believe that rational gun regulation is vital to community safety.

Ann Melby Shenkle

Doylestown, PA